| International Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1There we sat down and cried— by the rivers of Babylon— as we remembered Zion. | 1By the rivers of Babylon-- there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. |
| 2On the willows there we hung our harps, | 2There we hung up our lyres on the poplar trees, |
| 3for it was there that our captors asked us for songs and our torturers demanded joy from us, "Sing us one of the songs about Zion!" | 3for our captors there asked us for songs, and our tormentors, for rejoicing:" Sing us one of the songs of Zion." |
| 4How are we to sing the song of the LORD on foreign soil? | 4How can we sing the LORD's song on foreign soil? |
| 5If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function. | 5If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. |
| 6May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you, if I don't consider Jerusalem to be more important than my highest joy. | 6May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy! |
| 7Remember the day of Jerusalem's fall, LORD, because of the Edomites, who kept saying, "Tear it down! Tear it right down to its foundations!" | 7Remember, LORD, what the Edomites said that day at Jerusalem:" Destroy it! Destroy it down to its foundations!" |
| 8Daughter of Babylon! You devastator! How blessed will be the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. | 8Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who pays you back what you have done to us. |
| 9How blessed will be the one who seizes your young children and pulverizes them against the cliff! | 9Happy is he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks. |
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